New Broome prison site considered

More than a year after the State Government announced it was allocating $1.5 million for the planning of a new prison for Broome, sites for the new facility have been considered.

Corrective Services Minister Francis Logan visited one of the considered sites for the new prison, about 30 minutes out of town off Crab Creek Road on part of the former Wattledown Station.

Minister Logan visited the site last Friday with Corrective Services Commissioner Tony Hassall, Department of Justice director general Adam Tomison and traditional owner Junie Cattermole.

The facility is slated to replace Broome Regional Prison, located within the CBD on Hamersley Street.

Minister Logan said the Department of Justice worked extensively with Yawuru traditional owners about where the prison should be located.

“There were three sites and the site preferred by Yawuru is the one that’s been cleared of all the requirements to basically start the design process,” he said.

“We’re not going to recreate West Kimberley Regional Prison, it will be a remand focussed facility but there is a strong argument that it should aim at facilitating culturally appropriate rehabilitation programs for adults and juveniles.”

The allocation of the funding for the new prison was part of a move by the McGowan Government to address uncertainty surrounding Broome Regional Prison after the previous Liberal administration earmarked it for closure in 2015.

Despite being set to close four years ago, the then-State Government was forced to leave it open because of the high number of remand and sentenced prisoners in the Kimberley and was subsequently left with inadequate funding and fell into disrepair after being slammed by senior prison inspectors.